Mike on Crime

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CORTEZ, Colo. (AP) — Authorities say a 12-year-old Colorado boy accidentally shot himself in the leg while playing with a loaded pistol his parents had hidden behind the family Christmas tree.

Montezuma County Sheriff Gerald Wallace says the boy was shot in the calf on Monday morning but the injury wasn’t serious.

Wallace says the parents had left for work but other family members took the boy to a hospital.

The sheriff says he won’t recommend charges because the parents had left the .22 pistol a reasonable distance from the child.

It wasn’t clear why the weapon was hidden there. Wallace says the boy was “digging around” when he found it. His father had other weapons locked in a safe.

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Information from: Cortez Journal, http://www.cortezjournal.com/